Europe's First Inland LNG Bunkering Station Opens
Total’s Dutch clean fuels subsidiary PitPoint has opened Europe’s first shore-to-ship LNG bunkering station to cater for inland shipping.
The station is situated in Cologne, Germany, along the continent’s busiest waterway between Basel and Rotterdam, PitPoint said in a notice on October 31. It is equipped with a 200-metre3 storage tank and pumps capable of fuelling two vessels at the same time. It is open around the clock.
“We are very proud to welcome Europe’s first permanent LNG bunker station at our port in Cologne,” Port operator RheinCargo said in a statement. “LNG is known to be a reliable and clean alternative fuel, which helps reduce pollutant emissions in particular. This is why we see the use of LNG as an important step towards a sustainable future for logistics.”
LNG has grown in popularity as a bunkering vessel, partly because of stricter IMO rules on marine fuel emissions due to come into force next year. PitPoint’s project was co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, a fund that issues grants for infrastructure investments. The company, which also operates clean fuel filling stations for vehicles in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, was acquired by Total in 2017.